I follow Naim's text and
paragraphing throughout. Here is *Naim's text on DSAL*; I have provided links to my
own, much more readable scans of this same text ("N1"); here's *a pdf of the whole Naim
text*. There are also links to the pages of his notes ("notes 1"),
in the quite readable DSAL version. And here's *a calligraphed version*
of the text.

1) [*N1*] [*D1*]
On the [*notes 1*] wooden platform [chauka] in the
sihdari, again today a fresh, clean linen floor-cloth
had been spread. Through the chinks in the old, broken roof-tiles,
irregular slivers of sunlight spread through the whole dalan.
The neighborhood women sat silent and almost trembling, as if some
great event was about to happen. The mothers held their babies to their
breasts. From time to time some difficult, fretful baby would announce
a shortage of nourishment with a sudden cry.

= a sihdaarii is, literally, a
'three-doored' room.

= a daalaan is an outer hall or
antechamber.

2) [*D2*] "Now, now, sweetheart." The thin,
puny mother would lay the baby across her knees and shake him as if she
were winnowing the hulls from rice in the sun. And then, with a mumble
of resignation, he would fall silent.

3) Today, how many
hope-filled eyes were staring at Kubra's Mother's thoughtful face! Two
narrow breadths of twill had been joined together, but as yet no one
had found the courage to mark out the pattern on the coarse white
cloth. In matters of cutting and trimming, Kubra's Mother held a very
high rank. No telling how many trousseaus her dry hands had decorated,
how many "sixth-day presents" she had prepared, and how many shrouds
she had measured out. Wherever in the neighborhood the cloth turned out
to be too small, and even after a hundred tries the pattern wouldn't
"sit" properly, [*notes 2*] the case would be brought to Kubra's
Mother. Kubra's Mother would straighten the edges, rub away the starch,
sometimes shape a triangle, sometimes make a square-- and tracing in
her mind the path of the scissors, measuring out the lines with her
eyes, she would suddenly smile.

= byo;Ntnaa : 'To cut out or to shape
clothes; to measure for, or to fit, clothes'. Platts p. 212.

= On "sixth-day presents" see Naim's note.

4) "The sleeves and the front and back will come out of
this; for the collar, take a cutting from my box." And the problem was
solved. Having cut out the fabric pieces, she would make a make a neat
bundle of cuttings and hand them over. [*N2*]
But today the fragment of white cloth was extremely small. And
everybody believed that, 'today the measuring skills of Kubra's Mother
will be defeated'; thus they all, holding their breath, were watching
her face. On the confident face of Kubra's Mother there was no sign of
worry: with her glances she was measuring the fragment. The reflection
of the red twill was blazing on her dark, swarthy face like a sunrise.
Those sad, sad, deep wrinkle-lines were suddenly lit up like dark
clouds, the way in thick jungle fire bursts out, and she smiled and
picked up the scissors.

= Her face is niilguu;N zard ,
"blue-green yellow-pallid." I can't imagine what that really means.

5) From the group of neighborhood women a long sigh of
relief emerged. Even the babies in their laps were put down onto the
floor. The young unmarried girls with glances like birds of prey
instantly threaded their needles, the newly married brides put on their
thimbles. Kubra's Mother's scissors had begun to move.

6) In the farthest corner of the outer hall, on a light
cot, Hamidah, feet dangling, chin on her palm, was thinking some
faraway thoughts.

7) Having finished the afternoon meal, in this way [*notes 3*] Bi Amma goes and sits on the wooden
platform in the outer hall; and opening the box, she always spreads a
net of many-colored fabrics. [*D3*]
Seated beside the mortar, scrubbing the dishes, Kubra looks at the red
fabrics in such a way that a red wave surges up in her dirty-yellowish
complexion. When with her soft, light hands she [=Kubra's Mother] opens
out the net of silver sequins and spreads it on her knees, her withered
face suddenly glows with an extraordinary longing-filled light. The
reflection of the sequins on her deep, box-like wrinkles begins to glow
like tiny torches. With every stitch the gold-work quivers, and the
torches flicker.

= Her wrinkles are .sanduuqo;N jaise .
It doesn't seem very apt.

8) There's no remembering when her [fine muslin]
"dewdrops" dupattah was made, and was hung there ready-- and was sunk
into the depths of the large, coffin-like wooden box. The nets of
sequins faded. The rays of the gold-and-silver work became dim. The
very long thread-work pieces became sad, but Kubra's wedding procession
didn't come. When [*N3*] one outfit
would become old, then it would be called a "later-visit outfit" and
given away for free, and then with a new outfit there would be an
opening-out of new hopes. After much searching, a new piece of satin
would be selected. On the wooden platform in the outer hall a fresh,
clean linen floor-cloth would be spread. The neighborhood women,
paan-daans in hand and babies under their arms, with their anklets
jingling, would arrive.

= On the "later-visit outfit" see Naim's note

9) "The piece for the
underwear can be gotten, but there isn't enough fabric for the bachi."

10) "Come on now-- just
think about it, sister! Will we have to have chuls of that
wretched twill?" And then again all their faces became anxious. Kubra's
Mother, silently, like an alchemist, measured the length and width with
the tape of her eyes, and the [*notes 4 *] women began to whisper among
themselves about underwear, and burst out laughing. In the meantime,
somebody began to sing a man-chali, somebody a suhag
or a banna, somebody especially bold began to recite insults
to an imaginary set of in-laws. Shameless dirty jokes and pleasantries
began. On such occasions the young unmarried girls were ordered to sit
under the tiled roof, far from the sihdari, with their heads
covered. And when some new burst of laughter came from the sihdari,
then these poor things sighed helplessly: oh God, when would these
bursts of laughter be vouchsafed to themselves?